In the automotive industry fuel filler pipe housing assemblies mountable in openings of automotive vehicle body panels are known generally. U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,491 entitled "Fuel Door Housing" issued Aug. 1, 1991 and assigned commonly herewith, for example, discloses a plastic fuel filler pipe housing with a flange portion mountable in an opening of a vehicle body panel, wherein the body panel includes a recessed mounting surface disposed about the opening thereof so that a hinged door of the housing is flush with an outer surface of the body panel. A capped end portion of the fuel filler pipe extends through the housing, and is accessible upon opening the housing door. Other fuel filler pipe housings do not include a hinged door, but merely provide a transition between the fuel filler pipe and the body panel, leaving the fuel cap exposed. The housing may provide some support for the fuel filler pipe, but the capped end portion thereof is designed generally to readily break away from the housing during impact to prevent fuel leakage. The housing may also collect and drain small amounts of fuel spillage during refueling, and may provide some aerodynamic streamlining and cosmetic contouring continuous with the body panel, particularly in passenger vehicles where styling is paramount.
Automotive fuel filler pipe housings are installed generally after painting the automotive body panels so as to ensure that the housing and portions of the automotive body panel proximate the housing accommodating opening therein are painted completely. In some painting operations, the housing is suspended in a window opening of the auto body and painted therewith, then later mounted in the automotive body panel. Suspending the housing from the automotive body for painting, however, must be performed manually and is laborious. And mounting the housing on the body panel after painting poses a risk of damage to the painted finish during installation.
It is therefore generally desirable to install housings on the automotive body panels prior to applying finish coats of paint thereto. Primer coats in original equipment are applied by electro-deposition and baked at temperatures that will damage plastics, and thus plastic housings are installed after application of the primer. Past efforts to install housings before applying finish coats of paint, however, have met with limited success. One problem is a difficulty ensuring complete painting at an interface between the body panel and the housing, especially where the body panel is recessed. Another problem is that under changing temperature conditions, plastics tend to expand and contract at different rates than metal automotive body panels. This phenomenon often results in exposure of unpainted areas of the body panel, and more particularly to portions thereof adjacent the flange member of the housing when the body panel expands relative to the housing. This exposure is highly undesirable from a cosmetic standpoint, particularly where the unpainted portion is not covered by a housing door. Other housings used in other applications suffer from the same or similar problems.
The present invention is drawn generally toward advancements in the art of housings and more particularly to automotive fuel filler pipe housings.